Mission 26
As our current real estate is being eaten by the Lurker in Angles, it is time to find new place to live in. Links Team *Dester Gree facto lead, MedTech (Ozarck) *Vincent Klart 'talker' (Kedly) *Petra Clave 'talker' (Twinwolf) *Gus Mechanic (DoctorMcTaalik) *Ryan Jorgensen Med/Exo (Gentlefish) *Steve Saint admin/Aux (syvarris) *Charles Leroux Admin (Empiricist) Testing phases *''Phase one'': Unmanned drones containing a sample of each element, and equipped with basic cameras and sensors. Wait one minute, then bring drone back. If nothing explodes, dissolves, grows into an abomination, or otherwise becomes useless, move to phase two *''Phase two'': Sensors. High-definition cameras, EM, radio, sonar, motion detectors, etc. Poke around for a minute or three, then return. Examine all evidence. If nothing seems terrible, move to phase three. *''Phase three'': Life. Send samples of cellular life: microbiology, plants, animals, and a a few disposable flesh Sods. Remain for five minutes, return. if everything lives and functions properly, move to phase Four *''Phase Four'': Human test run. Strap a few (preferably willing) conscious humans, preferably alongside roboticised humans, into an autonomous drone and send them in. Five minutes then return. If they haven't gone immediately mad/dead/abominable, record their experiences and analyze. After careful analysis, if acceptable, move to phase five *''Phase Five'': Explore. Time to start exploring. Go in (or send a team) for one hour, then eight, then a full day, then a week. This is the point at which we will probably have to go in personally as well, though having a crew of grunts along will be acceptable. Explore, record, and report. We're getting closer to something human habitable now! *''Phase Six'': Evaluate options. have we found something survivable? Suitable? Idyllic? Should we send people to one or more of these universes to prepare short term and long term colonies? Do we have enough time to consider any more carefully, or need we gtfo now? If the latter, which option should we gtfo to? *''Phase Seven'': Begin the process again from a new universe, just in case this one is being eaten by a thermophage, universal black hole, cosmic entity, generic madness, or grues. Results Results are organized by the type of universe, not the coordinates. Before probing a new universe, use Ctrl-F and type in the target coordinates, separated by commas. Do not use spaces. When adding a universe's coordinates, follow the same style. Standard Universes These are standard, empty universes. Space like conditions on the other side. Hard vacuum but also fairly high radiation and heat levels (~250c). The elements appear unchanged. Video monitors show darkness and a degree of static and distortion. '' Probes that travel a distance in these universes are lost. *0,0,9 : Standard *0,0,5 : Standard *0,0,1 : Standard *0,0,-1 : Standard *0,0,-5 : Standard *0,5,0 : Standard. *0,1,0 : Standard *0,1,1 : Standard *0,1,-1 : Standard *0,-9,0 : Standard *49,49,49 : Standard *12,34,56 : Standard *9,0,0 : Standard *6,6,23 : Standard *1,2,3 : Standard *1,0,0 : Standard *1,0,1 : Standard *-5,0,0 : Standard *-6,-6,-6 : Standard *-7,-7,-7 : Standard *7,19,90 : Standard 4,13,9 : Standard Unobserved Universes These are universes which we didn't actually observe, despite sending a probe. They ''might not be dangerous, but probably are. Still, they're more interesting than standard universes. *0,0,-9: Probe returns, but there is no data in the drives, no elements in the cargo and it no longer projects a shadow. *0,-1,1 : The probe returns, apparently unchanged in physical configuration, but not responding. It appears to be glowing slightly. *0,-5,0 : Doesn't return. *6,6,6 : Doesn't return. *3,3,3 : The probe returns, but it has changed. It appears as though all color has been sucked from the thing, rendering it a monochrome gray. There are small, curved rods stuck to the thing as though magnetically attracted. *-1,0,0 : Doesn't return. *11,11,11: Doesn't return. What does return is a bit of gold vapour. *17,3,18: Probe comes back, but moves on its own. *0,0,57: Probe signals its return, but is not visible. Perhaps unrelated, but a sound of hissing or foam dissolving is heard. Explicitly Dangerous Universes These universes harmed the probe in some fashion. Not necessarily bad for colonization, but probably not good, either. It is suggested we not send further probes without good reason. *0,-1,0 : Returns intact however it has been highly irradiated...or something. The sensors don't report any ambient radiation but the entire probe itself has become somewhat radioactive, including all the elements. Though it doesn't appear to be normal radiation...rather the things are spraying out chunks of subatomic particles and rapidly degrading into "lower" elements. *0,-1,-1: The probe returns, barely. It has been frozen solid and is both crushed and shredded. *123,456,789 : The probe returns, but it appears to be completely wrapped in a thin metallic foil. As soon as we touch it, the stuff unfolds and sprays off in all directions, cleaving straight through the walls and causing stone and metal to darken and collapse into an ashy substance. We lost testing room 2 due to this, but the foil seems to have consumed itself in the process, so it was contained at least. The rabbits inside survived. *1,1,0 : Corroding hell. Black-listed. Sending another probe here requires explit permission from Dester and at least one ARM general or Heph admin. *1,0,-1 : Probe returns frozen and badly damaged. It looks as though it went through a blender. Unsettlingly, the frost that has completely covered the thing appears to take the shape of otherworldly faces as it melts. As per why you, and indeed everyone that looks at it, assumes these...things...are faces, you can't explain. *6,6,36:Spiderverse *42,42,42: Only half the probe returns. It's been neatly sliced in half with a slight curve to the cut, as though a large circular section was removed and the probe just happened to intersect the edge of it. Beyond this, the probe's cameras reveal a universe of black smoke and haze. The probe comes back completely sterilized of all life, including in the sealed internal parts. Not even a single bacterium is left. *4,20,69: The probe comes back with the appearance of having been ground against concrete; highly scuffed and scratched. Beyond that, the metal, plastic and most other materials have taken on a slightly purplish hue and, upon closer inspection, appear to have become toxic. Test animals come back dead. *1000,0,0: The probe returns covered in a few thin layers of what appears to be dried blood. It reaks of something awful; like corpses, vomit, feces, rotten eggs and gasoline. *0,0,1000: The probe returns covered in a thick, mostly clear but slightly cloudy and tan colored gel. Embedded in this gel are several dozen hard black nubs that look kind of like barnacles. As soon as it touches down in this universe the black barnacles shrivel and the gel blooms a brilliant green, as thick tubeworm-like growths start sprouting out in all directions. The probe is damaged, bent and twisted by the force of sudden growth of roots and silicate shells. Within a few moments the probe looks more like an alien chia pet then an exploration device. The Tapeworm things growing off the top of the probe appear to be puffing out clouds of yellow-green dust. Nonstandard Nonharmful Universes These are nonstandard universes which did not destroy the probe. One of these universes could easily be extremely harmful, regardless. Still, these are the best universes to explore for potential colonization. *0,9,0 : Gigantic caves *7,7,7 : Fractalverse *5,0,0 : Comes back, coated in and carrying about 400 pounds of pink slime. Livable for biological lifeforms if you can breathe slime. Rabbits seemed a bit stressed, but overall pretty normal (the living ones). *1,-1,0 : The universe here appears to be made of a thick, syrupy liquid with large disk like objects the size of small continents drifting through it. The syrup is carbon based, but extensively bound to silicon; it breaks down rapidly in this universe. **There seems to some type gravity as high density objects go in opposite direction of low density objects of same size. **The goo is apparently non-Newtonian fluid. It thickens as it flows faster. Sonar shows few solid objects nearby, thought those might be just whirlpools or something. One stream is some distance beneath the UO. *-9,0,0: Something which appears standard but is far hotter. Sensors pick up what looks like a starscape but...well, smudged and far too great. As though the entire universe was covered in the hazy glow of galactic cores, all smeared together across the void. *11,28,89: This universe seems abnormally small, and filled with some kind of fluffy pinkish red matter. No damage but also vacuum, very little heat and no gravity. Notable results Gigantic caves Coordinates: 0,9,0. Probe returns with readings that are oddly livable, chilly but livable, and video of what appears to be a large enclosed area. An uneven surface can be seen in front of the probe, but the probe hasn't been told to move so it sort of just sits there staring out into the dark for a minute before returning. No noticeable change to the elements. The enclosed one appears to be almost cave like in construction, though the caves appear to be of frankly unreasonable sizes. We're talking rooms that are wider than the circumference of the earth. Gravity seems erratic; in the empty "air" of the cave it's only a fraction of what it is on the surface, as though the contours of the cave follow some kind of invisible pattern of higher gravity. Samples of the surface reveal it to be fairly mundane though very densely packed stone of a variety of types. There's no signs of life, even on a microbial level. Samples of life and robotics that remain in their ships are fine, apparently uninjured. At least in first two ships. The one that digs a hole straight down loses it's drill after the first half foot. Readings were somewhere in the 85G range just before the drill tore free. Those G's seem to be limited to the hole itself and the probe was otherwise fine. On the surface the G's are varying between about .7 and 1.8 Gs depending on where you stand. And it's like this on all surfaces, so the probe could land on any wall and just sit there as though on a normal surface. The caverns, you can see two, are connected via tunnels or tubes, which appear to be extensions of the cave itself, just smaller. The caverns are smooth walled but amorphous in shape, not round or anything so geometrically simple. The test with people seems to work well. They report some odd feelings due to the fact that their arms feel light and their legs feel heavy, some vertigo, some loss of coordination, some other symptoms like that. The sort of thing you'd honestly expect from this sort of gravity distortion; need to expose them to it longer to see if they get their "sea legs" or if it's a permanent effect. Other than that, they seem unaffected by their stay. Full physicals find no abnormalities. They report the sensation of jump to be unpleasant. They say that it isn't as instantaneous as we think it is, and that they have only dream like recollections of the jumps, which they say seem to last for an unknown time. The second cavern appears to connect to several other caverns as well. Its surface covered with enormous mineral deposits. There's a field of sapphire with a surface area greater than the continental United States. Corroding hell Coordinates: 1,1,0. Probe returns violently, falling from several feet in the air onto the ground, breaking into pieces like rotten wood as it does. It appears to have rusted badly, turning greenish brown and partially dissolving. The rust like substance spreads from the probe to the ground the instant it makes contact and begins to expand outward. In the peripherals of the camera feed you can see the testing room's blast doors slam shut before nozzles spray flame into the room. For several long seconds all you can see is fire, and then the camera cuts out. Somewhere, far away, you feel something rumble and the monitors read "Test Room 1 Lost." Spider Verse Coordinates: 6,6,36 SPIDER...VERSE!!! The universe is oddly warm, about 100 degrees F. There are planet sized scattered objects in the video feed. They are white and oddly textured, like fingerprints or yarn balls. Void doesn't kill test animals, but all living things get infected with severe infestation of parasites. Soon after returning they start vomiting baby spiders. Eventually one of rabbits spawns a spider size of human head. These spiders like to mess door controls. Could be useful as a psychological weapon. Fractalverse Coordinates: 7,7,7. This universe has no measurable temperature, but the visuals show something that looks a lot like this. It's definitely a fractal latice but it's also extremely regular and it appears to be expanding out in all directions. You can see bright lights a within some of the deeper sections nearby. The atmosphere seems to be an extremely thin but ubiquitous nitrogen-argon mix. Humans from phase four return unnaffected. As a probe gets nearer to the lights, it gets footage what appear to be living things. The look metallic, but amorphous, like globs of mercury the size of a small minivan. Coming out of this amorphous body are what look like solid metal limbs, as though there were a robotic skeleton under that Amoeba-like exterior. The things are crawling about on the surface of the lattice, though to what end you can't tell. The light appears to be coming from large collections of these creatures which are banded together near strange whirling, glowing sections of the lattice. You can't tell what they do, but they appear to be throwing out a heck of a lot of energy. The blobs ignore your probe, or perhaps they can't see it? Casualties *Dester Gree - Legs dissolved *Vincent Klart - Legs dissolved, arms melted to the bone *Petra Clave - Hand melted Gus - Head collapsed inward like a gourd. Permadead. *Steve Saint - Arms dissolved Category:Mission